


Dalliance

by gentlemanjackedup



Category: Gentleman Jack (TV)
Genre: Ann Walker's collarbones, Anne Lister's Boots, Anne Lister's Puffy White Shirt, Anne Lister's cravat, Chair Sex, F/F, Français | French, Married Anne Lister (1791-1840)/Ann Walker (1803-1854), Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Smut, hnng
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:55:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22018996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentlemanjackedup/pseuds/gentlemanjackedup
Summary: Anne dropped her hands in her lap and leaned back in the chair.“Que tu es belle,”she murmured.Ann could handle compliments in English. But somehow, Anne looking at her like that and speaking to her in a foreign tongue was too much. Ann blushed and looked at the floor, self-consciously.“Non,” Anne said softly. “Regarde-moi.”****************************************************************************************************************I took the liberty of expanding on one sentence of Anne Lister’s journal, dated April 17 1834: “Twenty minutes dalliance in the midst of dressing.” To be fair, how did either of them ever manage to get dressed?
Relationships: Anne Lister (1791-1840)/Ann Walker (1803-1854)
Comments: 44
Kudos: 181





	Dalliance

**Author's Note:**

> This one features some French. :)  
> If you are on a computer, you can mouse over the phrases in French and get the translation in rollover text.  
> If you're on a phone, I don't think that works. So either brush the cobwebs out of the part of your brain that stores your high school French, enjoy not always knowing exactly what they’re saying to each other, or scroll down to the notes at the bottom for a list of translated phrases in the order they appear in the text. 
> 
> If better speakers/writers of French see errors, I’d be most grateful for corrections!

“Ann...”

“Mmm.”

“Ann.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Ann, it’s 27 minutes to ten o’clock.”

“Huh-mm.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Don’t care.”

“We have things to do in Halifax this morning. We need to see Mr. Parker about the Staups deposit…”

“Unnnhmmmm.” 

“We have to leave before eleven, and you haven’t washed or dressed or had breakf-“

“Unhh, all right,” Ann Walker groaned as she sat up in bed. Satisfied, Anne Lister turned back to the mirror in the small bedroom. Her strong, slender arms were bent behind her back as she pulled the laces of her corset taut. Eugénie had already done her hair. Ann watched the muscles and tendons shift in her wife’s forearms and hands as she worked, and despite her grogginess, felt a twinge deep inside at the memory of those hands on her body last night. Anne had teased her to an almost unbearable peak and let her hang there a long moment before relenting, filling her with her fingers over and over again until she crashed back to earth, leaving Ann so relaxed and spent that she’d fallen asleep almost immediately in Anne’s arms. 

Ann was startled by a knock at the door. At Anne’s permission, Eugénie poked her head in.

“ _Êtes-vous prête, mademoiselle?_ ” she asked Ann politely, holding up a comb.

“ _Ehm… non, pas… déjà. Erm… vingt… vingt minutes?_ ” Ann answered haltingly. 

" _Très bien, mademoiselle._ ” Eugénie gave a small curtsy and slipped back into the hallway, shutting the door.

Anne was pulling on her white shirt, and caught Ann’s eye in the mirror. “ _Encore._ ”

“What?” Ann asked through a yawn as she put her feet on the cool floor.

Anne sat down in the chair at her dressing table, buttoning up her shirt front. “ _Encore._ It means again, or yet. _Déjà_ means already. _Pas encore._ ” 

“Oh,” Ann said, padding over to the wardrobe to fetch her corset and underthings. “I think she understood, though."

Anne caught the disappointment in Ann’s voice and softened a bit as she draped her cravat around her neck. “Your French is improving, Ann. It’ll be quite respectable by the time we get to Paris.”

Ann pulled her nightshirt up over her head, shivering a little at the chill on her bare skin, but she couldn’t help but smile. Paris. Before meeting Anne, she never dreamed she’d go to Paris. And now to go with Anne, who would be able to show her everything, take her everywhere – Ann began to put on her chemise and turned to say something to her wife, but stopped short when she saw the way Anne was looking at her. The older woman’s dark eyes were gleaming, her hands still holding the untied ends of her cravat. Anne sighed heavily when the view was suddenly obstructed as Ann pulled the long chemise down over her torso.

Ann grinned. “What?” she asked teasingly, although she knew full well what. She flicked her eyes down Anne’s half-dressed body, only now noticing she had already put her boots on. Good Lord. Anne dropped her hands in her lap and leaned back in the chair. “ _Que tu es belle,_ ” she murmured. 

English compliments, Ann could handle. But somehow, Anne looking at her like that and speaking to her in a foreign tongue was too much. Ann blushed and looked at the floor, self-consciously.

“ _Non,_ ” Anne said softly. “ _Regarde-moi._ ” Ann’s heart skipped a beat as she obeyed the request, raising her head to look straight at Anne. 

Anne tilted her head to one side. “ _Tu es si belle. Je te veux tellement._ ”

Ann shivered again; her mind felt clouded by desire, but she came up with the translation. “ _Maintenant?_ ” she asked, then grinned. “ _Encore?_ ”

Anne smiled. “ _Encore. Maintenant. Toujours._ ” She shifted slightly in the chair and patted her lap. “ _Viens ici._ ”

Ann cocked her head to the side mischievously. “ _Pourquoi?_ ” 

Anne slowly let her gaze drift down Ann’s body to the hem of her chemise and back up again, drumming one boot heel on the floor several times in an impatient twitch. “ _Parce que je veux toucher ma femme. Et parce que nous avons vingt minutes._ ”

Ann couldn’t have resisted if she’d wanted to. She crossed the room and straddled Anne’s lap as gracefully as she could, and shuddered as she felt Anne’s warm hands circle her back, rubbing her through her chemise. Ann took hold of the ends of Anne’s cravat. “ _Quinze minutes,_ ” she corrected, tugging the cravat gently. 

Anne shrugged. “ _Alors. Allons-y._ ” She leaned forward, her face just at the right level to press her lips to Ann’s neck, breathing in her scent eagerly and groaning as she felt the younger woman’s hands slide over her shoulders. “ _Tu me rends folle,_ ” she whispered. She kissed Ann’s collarbones, then found the spot where her pulse rushed in her neck, feeling it throb under her tongue. The morning sunlight was filtering through the window in the room, illuminating the blonde waves of hair cascading over Ann’s shoulders, highlighting her cheekbones and jawline. 

Ann bent her head down to cover Anne’s mouth with her own, kissing her delicately at first, but quickly picking up on Anne’s hot, insistent need. She felt Anne’s hands sliding up under the chemise, squeezing her hips and thighs, and moaned into her open mouth. The chair creaked as Anne adjusted to open Ann’s legs slightly wider. She wrapped one long, strong arm around Ann’s back to steady her, and let her other hand wander to the inside of Ann’s thigh. 

Ann’s hands were on either side of Anne’s face, holding her close while she seized her bottom lip in her teeth and bit down gently. Anne gasped and splayed her hand against the small of Ann’s back, digging the tips of her fingers into her flesh. Her other hand drifted up between Ann’s legs, her fingers finding where she was soft and slick, reveling in her wife’s responsive moan of delight and the feel of her hips rolling forward. 

Anne nudged Ann’s face to the side with her cheek and placed her mouth close to her ear. She whispered in low heat, “ _Je te veux, toi, toute entière._ ” She let her fingers circle Ann’s swollen clit slowly, steadily, increasing the pressure, but not the speed, as she heard Ann’s breath come in ragged whimpers and felt her rock against her hand. “ _Je te veux, toute à moi, juste comme ça…_ ”

“Anne – please…” 

“ _Qu’est que c’est? Je ne comprends pas,_ ” Anne teased, grazing Ann’s earlobe with her teeth. 

Ann huffed in disbelief, grabbing the loose sleeves of Anne’s shirt in her fists. “ _Mon Dieu, Anne, plus vite, s’il te plaît… je… je t’en prie…_ ” The words spilled out of her mouth, the language spurred on in her desperation. 

Anne’s hand obeyed, replacing her fingers with her thumb and stroking firmly, quickly, back and forth across the hard knot of Ann’s pleasure. “ _Oui, ma chérie, mon ange, mon coeur, j’y suis._ ” She breathed the words in rhythm with her strokes. Her arm around Ann’s back pulled her closer in her lap. She covered Ann’s neck with kisses as she began to feel a rhythmic pulsing under her thumb. Soon her mouth hummed with the vibrations of Ann’s soft cries of release through her throat. Anne sagged back in the chair, letting her legs relax, as Ann pitched forward to collapse against her, forehead on Anne’s shoulder, gasping for air. Anne drew her hand out from between their bodies and rested it on Ann’s thigh, her other hand caressing Ann’s back soothingly. She turned her face to kiss Ann’s cheek where she could reach it.

After a moment, conscious of the time, Anne breathed a deep sigh. “ _Ça va?_ ”

Ann straightened up at last, regarding Anne with half-lidded eyes and a smile, stroking her face with one hand. Anne gazed back at her steadily. “ _Qu’est-ce qu’il y a?_ ” she asked. 

“ _Tu es si…_ ” Ann studied the powerful lines of Anne’s shoulders and chest beneath her shirt, the sharp jawline and brow, the curious brown eyes. “ _Non. Pas belle. Tu es si… beau_.”

Delight welled up deep in Anne’s chest, from the place where she was most herself. She took Ann’s hands tightly in her own, stroking her thumbs across the knuckles, and kissing each hand quickly. “I can’t wait to have you on my arm in Paris, Miss Walker. I think I’ll let you do all the talking.”

**Author's Note:**

> (Eugénie) “Are you ready, Miss?”  
> (Ann) “No, not… already. Twenty minutes?”  
> (Eugénie) “Very good, Miss.”
> 
> (Anne) “How beautiful you are.”  
> (Anne) “No. Look at me.”  
> (Anne) “You are so beautiful. I want you so much.”  
> (Ann) “Again?”  
> (Anne) “Again. Now. Always. Come here.”  
> (Ann) “Why?”  
> (Anne) “Because I want to touch my wife. And because we have twenty minutes.”  
> (Ann) “Fifteen minutes.”  
> (Anne) “Well then. Let’s go.”  
> (Anne) “You make me crazy.”  
> (Anne) “I want you, all of you.”  
> (Anne) “I want you, all to myself, just like this.”  
> (Anne) “What’s that? I don’t understand you.”  
> (Ann) “My God, Anne, faster, please, I beg you.”  
> (Anne) “Yes, my darling, my angel, my heart, I’m here.”  
> (Anne) “Are you alright?”  
> (Anne) “What is it?”  
> (Ann) “You are so… No. Not beautiful. You are so… handsome.”


End file.
